Update #120 on Kevin

Last week, we took Kevin to his gastroenterologist. This is the same doctor that put his peg tube in his stomach on September 4th, 2009. This is the first time this doctor has seen Kevin since that day. He came in the room all smiles and greeting us with “How y’all doin?” I remembered that he was overly friendly when we met last September. He also gave us his card and said, call me anytime if you have questions. He repeated that plea this time as well. He told us that whoever is taking care of Kevin’s peg tube stoma (hole for feeding tube) is doing a superb job. He didn’t want to change anything, saying you can’t fix perfection. We left feeling really good with the reminder that we must be doing some things right!


We also realized last week that we have now been at home with Kevin longer than we were at Meadowbrook. What????? That sounds as crazy in my head as when we realized it. It seems like we were at Meadowbrook for a lot longer than we have been at home. Part of it is because we had to get renewed each week with insurance and the doctors at Meadowbrook. Another reason is that it was newer, or rather more raw to deal with. Also, we were constantly running, either to pick people up, or from hotel to the hospital, the house we stayed at to the hospital, etc…. During that time, we also visited thirteen different skilled nursing centers which added to the stress. If you’ll remember there had been the flood at Kevin’s house, which consumed a portion of our time too. Things have started to settle more and more. Now we are getting used to the new normal.

The end of March saw the end of the medical furlough that Angie and I were on from our ministry in Italy. After much prayer, consultation and thought, we came to the conclusion that it would be God honoring to stay in the states and care for Kevin and his kids. So, we transitioned out of our role on the team in Verona to a stateside role with our mission organization, Team Expansion. I am now part of the Creative Arts department of our mission. I will actually be doing many things that I have done for the past eleven years, but now my talents will be made available to any of our organization’s 320 missionaries on the field. I have done and will do graphics, video editing, web designing, publishing, curriculum creation as well as other creative projects. I will be doing half my hours at a borrowed office at Highland Park Christian Church, and the other half during my night shifts with Kevin. This is still a position where we have to raise all of our support. This is the practice for everyone within our organization. We have updates and prayer updates for our role in missions. If you would like to receive this, please let me know and I’ll add you on. Email me at mcrosser@teamexpansion.org.

Kevin finished one of his antibiotics and the other finishes tomorrow. He is coughing much less and producing less secretions. We continue to take him outside several days of the week and on Easter we took him over to my brother, Greg’s, house. We took him outside, so he could watch us hide and find Easter eggs with the kids. Then inside we let him smell the Easter lunch for brain stimulation. We got him back home after about four hours and we didn’t have to suction him even once.

Thanks as always for reading this, caring for our family and praying for Kevin’s recovery.

Thanks,
Matt, Angie and family
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